In 1997 on the initiative of a few power supply companies was founded by the Institute of Elektrical Energy Supply (Prof. Balzer) the “GIS User Forum”.
The basic idea is to provide a platform for the exchange of experiences and ideas in the field of high-voltage SF6 switchgear.
The contributions made at the university are the organization and implementation of the activities necessary to achieve these objectives. After Prof. Balzer's retirement in October 2011, the GIS user forum has found a new home in the High Voltage Engineering Department of the Institute of Electrical Energy Systems.
The GIS User Forum consists of power supply companies, which exchange about high-voltage substations. Within the framework of the general meeting, all members meet and exchange current topics directly with each other. The General Meeting is open to members only.
The highlight every year is the GIS expert conference. During the conference users, manufacturers and all other interested parties meet and exchange their contributions to current topics. The meeting can be publicly attended.
Due to current developments at all energy supply companies and at other GIS operators, the user forum has the following basic purpose. Activities, which can not be completely dealt with or only imperfectly be dealt with by these companies, are supposed to be supported or completed by the GIS user forum.
Thereby following tasks are carried out by the GIS user forum in addition to an intensive exchange of experiences:
- Spare part strategy or organization of a spare part pool
- Execution of the annual meeting
- Organization and conducting of lectures, seminars and trainings
- Translation of technical literature or making of abstracts
- Reports on national and international conferences
- User support for the following work areas:
- Maintenance strategy
- Strategies for extensions and renewals of the substations
- Sensors and diagnostics
- Support on the detection of faults
- Recommendations for fault management
In addition, special tasks are communicated to third parties, such as:
- Carrying out measurements and tests (EMC, High Voltage test etc.)
- Management for maintenance
- Consultancy service for planning, designing, constructing, operating and maintaining
- Quality check
During our general meeting, all members meet to discuss current topics of high-voltage switchgear. Examples of these topics are:
- Presentation of current failure reports and the consequences for the company
- Discussion of suppression strategies
- Discussion of model series errors or abnormalities
- Current statistical survey of plant stock, breakdowns, error rates, etc.
- Discussion of current problems – for example relaxation oscillations, Bus Current transfer switching, diagnostics, especially partial discharge diagnostics.
The contents of the membership meeting are available exclusively for our members.
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Within the conference, the members and other interested people have a platform to provide and discuss information on encapsulated high-voltage switchgear, their applications, operation and experiences. The main topics are primarily focused on topics relevant to grid operation. The conference is thus the binoculars of the GIS user forum to the technology world. But it also offers manufacturers, SMEs, universities, public institutions and many other parties a platform for direct exchange with users or with each other.
The conference is largely supported by the members of the GIS user forum through their membership fee. This makes the conference one of the few events that can be financed entirely without advertising or product placement. The TU Darmstadt, as a public institution, also supervizes and organizes the conference and is commited to hold the conference completely neutral. An example for this statement is, among other things, that when choosing a contribution, an attempt is made to avoid a high one-sided company share in contributions. This is to ensure that multiple opinions are always welcome and also encouraged at the conference.
Are you interested? Please have a look at more details on our homepage.
